Romance writer Anna C. Bowling on writing and reading romance, the search for the perfect nail polish and other pretty things.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Look, up on the shelves! It's a bird...it's a plane...it's a supercouple?

The new At The Back Fence is out now, and this issue’s topic is connected books. Hoo boy, could I go on about that, on several fronts. Probably will, too, but I’m coming off a couple of overheated days so I’m taking it easy.What struck me the most, though, was the mention of one of my very favorite things in romance – supercouples. I’m probably dating myself but I love supercouples, I miss them, and if I have anything to say about it, a few of them may be ready to reintroduce the concept. Modest, huh?

Though I came on a little late for the real-time start of Luke and Laura, I caught on – though we won’t discuss the rape vs forced seduction thing here. I am foot-stomping mad that GH wrapped up (or more accurately unravelled) things the way they did, so in my mind, any Spencers seen in the area are impostors planted by the Cassadines. The real Luke and Laura are happily living in Australia under assumed names. So there.

Bo and Hope from Days of Our Lives. Oh, sigh. I have vivid memories of Peter Reckell riding into Salem on a motorcycle to the strains of "Holding Out for a Hero." Okay, I am a sucker for Jim Steinman songs anyway, but I was an impressionable teen, and yearned along with Bo and Hope from that day, through the whole Larry Welch affair and up to their first wedding. Went off soaps a while after that (soured perhaps by the raw deal Pete and Melissa got, too) but they made their mark.

So too did the supercouples of historical romance. I never read the Steve and Ginny books (yet), but Sherwood, Small…you bet! After the initial HEA, for me, the stakes raise. I love watching the same h/h tackle new obstacles and find their way back to each other no matter what stood in their way. Shoot, when Star Trek: The Next Generation came out, I had to watch because there was a character named Riker, and I was still smitten with Sherwood’s privateer hero, VanRyker. I had to see if this guy was a worthy descendant. Yep. And so began a long and fruitful fanfic career.

Once in a while, one of the pair would have to make a new beginning after their beloved’s untimely demise, and find love again. This could be a little trickier for me, but there are a few. Constance Gluyas’ duo, THE KING’S BRAT and sequel MY LADY BENBROOK did that very well.If after a book or three, the torch got passed to the couple’s children, even better. How will our progenitors handle this new phase of life, and what will the next generation get into? Are secrets from their parents’ past going to complicate the present and future? Aola Vandergriff’s DAUGHTERS OF series did this masterfully, following three sisters and their husbands and descendants from the 1850s to 1920s. When that series was over, I was mad. When I found the author had passed, I actually sniffled, then printed out her backlist and began combing the UBS’s.

Would I love to see this return, maybe write a few of my own? Of course. Not exact copies of what’s gone before, but the same concept with new flavor. I have a few ideas.

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Anna Carrasco Bowling is a reader and writer of historical and time travel romance. She spends her days crafting tales of love in ages past and is equally likely to post in correct grammar, LOLspeak or Yoda. You have been warned.